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UN says delayed Congo peace deal due to be signed February 24

A delayed UN-mediated peace deal aimed at ending two decades of conflict in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is due to be signed in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on February 24, the United Nations said.

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African leaders
failed to sign the deal last month due to the concerns of some countries over
who would command a new regional force that would deploy in eastern Congo and take
on armed groups operating in the conflict-torn region.

The so-called
intervention brigade would be contained within the existing UN peacekeeping
force in Congo,
known as MONUSCO.

UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon sent out invitations on Friday for the February 24 signing
ceremony and intended to travel to Ethiopia for the event, his
spokesman, Martin Nesirky, said. “All the invited presidents have committed to
either be there or delegate power to sign,” Nesirky said.

Rwandan Deputy U.N.
Ambassador Olivier Nduhungirehe posted on Twitter that the “African Union, the
International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, Southern African
Development Community Chairs, as well as 10 Heads of States of the region will
attend the signing ceremony.”

Envoys have said
that one of the main reasons the deal was not signed in January was that three
countries in the 15-member Southern African Development Community regional bloc
— South Africa, Tanzania and Mozambique — felt they did not have
enough information on the enforcement brigade.

The creation of an
enforcement brigade within a UN peacekeeping mission is new for the United
Nations, according to officials in the world body. Peace enforcement missions
allow the use of lethal force in serious combat situations, while peacekeeping
operations are intended to support and monitor an already existing ceasefire,
diplomats and UN officials say.

A new Security
Council resolution would be needed to approve the intervention unit and is
likely to be supported by the 15-member council, envoys have said.

UN peacekeeping
chief Herve Ladsous has made clear that the brigade would fight under the
banner of MONUSCO, which means it would be under the same command as regular
MONUSCO troops, who conduct patrols and support the Congolese security forces.

But diplomats had
said South Africa, Tanzania and Mozambique, which are the most
likely candidates to supply the several thousand troops of the brigade,
believed it should have its own command.

The countries take
the view that MONUSCO has not performed well under its current command, such as
when it allowed M23 rebels to occupy the eastern city of Goma last year for 11 days before they
withdrew.

Rebels in mineral-rich east

The M23 rebels began
taking large swathes of the mineral-rich east early last year, accusing the
government of failing to honor a 2009 peace deal. That peace deal ended a
previous rebellion and led to the rebels’ integration into the national army.
They have since deserted the army.

The Congolese army
has failed to quell the growing 10-month insurgency by M23, which has dragged Congo’s eastern region back toward war and,
according to U.N. experts, has received cross-border support from Rwanda and Uganda. Rwanda
and Uganda
strongly deny the accusations of involvement.

Ladsous said that if
approved by the U.N. Security Council, the enforcement unit would be equipped
with a three-pronged mandate to prevent the expansion of armed groups in
eastern Congo
as well as to “neutralize” and disarm them.

It would have the
aid of unmanned surveillance drones to hunt down armed militias difficult to
spot in the vast territory of eastern Congo. Ladsous said the drones
would provide an element of deterrence because the rebels would know they were
being watched.

The planned use of
drones, is also new for the United Nations, UN officials say. Congo’s prime
minister said on Thursday that the drones could be deployed as early as June.